EDN: https://elibrary.ru/jqcqmq
DOI: 10.21064/WinRS.2026.3.8
This article presents a study of the geographic mobility of Tatar women from the educated classes and their influence on Russia’s social modernization. The study is based on the biographies of Fatykha Aitova, Zukhra Akchurina, Mukhlisa Bubi, Abruy Sayfi, Khadija Yamasheva, Fatima-Farida Nauruzova, Sarya Shakulova, Sahipdzhamal Gizatullina-Volzhskaya, and other Tatar women. The Tatar Muslim elite (merchants and clergy) engaged in a wide range of marital alliances, as they were guided by their own traditions as well as family and corporate interests. This influenced women’s mobility, which increased at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Tatar women connected the Tatar communities of the Volga-Ural region with Central Russia, Siberia, Crimea, and other regions. Of course, women’s travel was limited by male influence, as dictated by the Russian passport system. However, following the 1905—1907 revolution, the number of working, unmarried women increased. Some Tatar newspapers supported the emancipated behavior of Tatar women, and their publications served as a guide for young women. The article recounts an episode involving the scandalous case of the poet Zahida Burnasheva. In 1915, she ran away from her parents and became an activist in the Tatar women’s movement. The author concludes that Tatar women became champions of new ideas and strategies. Some of them had capital inherited from their fathers and the support of their families, which enabled them to launch various social projects (opening schools, shelters, charitable organizations, newspapers, etc.). The everyday behavior and social activities of Tatar women also served as an example for society.
This work was supported by a grant from the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan (2024) for fundamental and applied scientific research in scientific and educational institutions, enterprises, and organizations in the real sector of the economy of the Republic of Tatarstan.